It’s been a while since I wrote the last blog and I’m constantly getting reminded about it.
I’ve decided, therefore, to write and inform you of our new Water Buffering System.
“What is it” you may ask?
Well Water Buffering is a strange term for water management. In essence, how the water is dealt with once it drains through your lawn.
No one can really say that they don’t like a well maintained, real grass lawn. Many would say that there is nothing nicer. I certainly wouldn’t suggest that anyone should rip up a beautiful lawn and replace it with any sort of replacement surface. Unfortunately, like most things, a real lawn needs a bit of work to get it that way.
One of the problems to overcome can be drainage on real lawns. If your ground is clay based you may have troubles getting rid of water. Whilst sandy ground can lead to dry soil that does not retain water. At Love It Lawns we are often confronted with areas that have drainage issues.
To be honest it sounds hard but with a little research most drainage issues can be sorted quite easily. We find that around our area there’s a lot of clay so you could just try forking your lawn, it may help with drainage and you get a bit of exercise too, win win.
That said you may have decided that you would like to look at going down the artificial grass route but you have concerns about the drainage and how that would work.
Obviously I can only tell you how we can help reduce drainage problems but it is important you do some research to obtain a better idea of what is available and what would suit you best.
As a basic option we offer a 2/6 crushed limestone base and if required a 4/20 crushed limestone which is laid over a geo-textile fabric. The depth of base would be dependant upon the ground conditions and what is required. Both of these base materials are a very clean stone that allow water to run through it more easily than many of the standard aggregates that are used.
An important point to mention here is that we do not try to remove all of the water from your garden. Often your own and your neighbours tree and plant roots run under your lawn so it is extremely important that the soil has an adequate supply of water.
If necessary, Love It Lawns have additional options for particularly difficult drainage areas. We offer Soak-Away Crates that can be used to remove excess water from the garden and if necessary other systems that would alleviate drainage problems.
The Soak-Away Crates are buried in one part of the garden and often have pipes that feed it from different parts of the garden. As a rough guideline, (although this does depend on additional factors) one crate will hold around 170 litres of water and you would generally require one crate per 25sq metres of garden.
There are also water harvesting systems available that capture the water in a tank below your lawn. This water can be an easy way of watering your garden or cleaning your patio.
Best of all, this is free, so you could spend less money on your water bills.
This now brings us on to our Drainbase System option. This system covers the entire lawn area allowing the excess water to be spread over the whole area like a normal lawn. It also has the added advantage of it being able to hold up to 750 litres of water per 25sq metres giving the water time to soak-away across the whole area. Where lawns suffer from severe water issues it works very well in conjunction with the soak-away system.
Another advantage of the 60cm x 60cm sq Drainbase Tile is that is spreads the weight over the ground therefore making the base more stable.
Drainbase has been tested to take up to 90 ton per square metre so roughly what I weighed after the Christmas break!!.
Finally, Drainbase can also help to reduce odours on the artificial grass particularly those caused by pet urine. It creates a gap between the artificial grass and the ground thereby allowing the urine to drain away from the artificial grass more easily and not leaving the backing in contact with the ground.
As mentioned many times, PU Backed Grasses, Infills and Drainbase are not guaranteed to totally eliminate animal odours from your lawn. The use of these systems and regular cleaning however will go a long way to providing a clean smelling artificial grass area.
For further information, please go to. https://www.loveitlawns.co.uk/artificial-grass-maintenance-and-cleaning-guide-for-pet-owners/
If you do wish to see the Drainbase System working you may come along and see it at our unit in Hedge End or please give us a call on 01489 789009 to arrange a demonstration.
More information can also be found at https://www.loveitlawns.co.uk/drain-base-system/
